Breakdown of Kiedy zrobiło się ciemno, zapaliłem lampę w salonie.
w
in
salon
the living room
kiedy
when
robić się
to become
lampa
the lamp
ciemny
dark
zapalić
to light
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Questions & Answers about Kiedy zrobiło się ciemno, zapaliłem lampę w salonie.
What does zrobiło się ciemno literally mean, and why do we use zrobić się to express “it got dark”?
Literally, zrobiło się is “it made itself” and ciemno is “dark.” Together, zrobiło się ciemno is the typical Polish way to say “it got dark,” using the verb zrobić się (a perfective, reflexive form) to indicate a change of state. English uses “get” or “become,” but Polish often uses zrobić się for “to become” when talking about weather or lighting conditions.
Why is there a się in zrobiło się ciemno? What is its function?
The się is a reflexive particle that turns zrobić (“to do/make”) into zrobić się (“to become”). It marks the verb as an intransitive change-of-state verb. Without się, zrobić would be transitive (“to make something”), and you couldn’t say “it made dark” intransitively.
Could I say stało się ciemno instead of zrobiło się ciemno?
Yes, stało się ciemno is also correct and means the same thing (“it became/got dark”). Stać się is another verb for “to become.” However, colloquially zrobiło się ciemno is more common when talking about the onset of darkness.
Why is zapaliłem in the masculine form? What if a woman says it?
Zapaliłem is first person singular past tense masculine (speaker is male). A female speaker would say zapaliłam. Polish past tense adjectives and participles agree in gender and number with the subject.
Why is lampę in the accusative case?
Lampę is the direct object of zapaliłem (“I lit/turned on the lamp”), and most direct objects of perfective verbs take the accusative case. The nominative is lampa, the accusative singular is lampę.
Why is it w salonie and not na salonie or w salon?
W salonie uses the locative case to indicate location “in the living room.” The preposition w (“in”) always requires the locative (or instrumental when indicating means), so salon becomes salonie. Na salonie would imply “on top of the living room” which doesn’t make sense, and you can’t drop the ending because Polish needs case endings after prepositions.
Why is there no article (“the”) before lampę or salonie in Polish?
Polish doesn’t have articles (a, an, the). Definite or indefinite sense is implied by context. Here, the learner already knows it’s “the lamp in the living room,” so no article word is needed.
What’s the difference between zapalić lampę and włączyć lampę?
Zapalić lampę literally means “to light the lamp” (turn on a lamp that uses a bulb or flame). Włączyć lampę means “to switch on the lamp,” focusing on the switch rather than lighting. In everyday speech they’re often interchangeable for electric lamps, but zapalać/zapalić is more traditional.
Why does the sentence start with Kiedy and have a comma afterwards? Could I omit the comma?
Kiedy introduces a time clause (“When it got dark”), and in Polish, a subordinate clause before the main clause is separated by a comma. Omitting the comma would be considered a punctuation error. You could also say Zapaliłem lampę w salonie, kiedy zrobiło się ciemno, swapping the order, and still use a comma.
Can I use Gdy or Jak instead of Kiedy?
Yes. Gdy zrobiło się ciemno, zapaliłem lampę and Jak zrobiło się ciemno, zapaliłem lampę both work. Gdy is slightly more formal/literary, and jak is more colloquial. All three mean “when/once it got dark.”